Kunming
Our resturant for dinner tonight has an internet cafe, so I came a little early to update my blog before the rest of the group gets here.
We arrived in Kumming last night around 6 pm, after taking a 1 hour flight from Guilin. We were going to eat at the airport in Guilin but they only had 4 resturants, all with the same menu, and it was quite expensive so we all picked up snacks to last until we got to Kunming. IN the airports there are hot water dispensors so you can buy instant noodles at the airport and make your own meal there. The noodles even come with a spoon.
Upon arriving in Kunming we were greated with some fresh, cool air which is much nicer than the warm humid weather we've had in the rest of China. Our hotel definitely looked more than a 3 star, which is what we get on this trip, and a couple of us managed to get upgraded to suites. We originally had a room with two singles beds but when we arrived in our room, we discovered that someone was already using it. THe staff upgraded us to a suite on the 15th floor which had two bathrooms, a huge bedroom and a living room. Too bad were only got to stay there for one night. (Even though this is the best hotel we've had so far, it had the hardest bed in the world and the worst breakfast ever. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too - or would that be "your noodles", in China?)
After checking in we all went out for supper across the road from the hotel. Alex was originally going to take us to a different resturant but apparently some one on the last tour got sick after eating there and they were cooking the veggetarian dishes in the same oil as the meat so the tour decided not to use that resturant again. Apparently Imaginative Traveller also checks their hotels every 6 months and if the standards are slipping, they stop using them. We didn't have anything too exotic for supper - fried goat cheese with ham, spicy chicken with peanuts, a beef and veggie dish and something else which I can't remember. We usually order a few dishes and then share with Liz and Gareth, the couple from England who are our age and have travelled quite a bit.
I had hoped to see the Stone Forest while in Kunming but it was two hours out of town and getting there and back would have taken the whole day so we opted not to do that. Instead we spent the day with Gareth and Liz and went to the Bamboo Temple, a older Budhist temple, a strange vegetarian resturant and also the bird and pet market. Kunming is quite a big city and very spread out so we took a taxi everywhere. They are metered taxis here so that definitely makes it easier for paying at the end of your trip. We found both the temples quite interesting and ornate and since it is Saturday there were quite a number of people at both temples touring around and offering insense to all the different statues. (I'm not a big insense fan - the place smelled like a giant mosquito coil!) One of the temples had a number of ponds with fish and at least 100 turles all swimming around. Some of the turles has painted shells on them.
After lunch we wandered through the bird and pet markets which sold everything from squirlls and chipmonks to scorpians and mice. We also passed through a clothing market and a flower market which were quite busy but interesting to look at.
Tonight we catch a 10 pm train to take to Dali where we'll be for at least one night. The overnight train is 9 hours and I must say that I am not looking forward to the trip. I did have to use my first squat toilet today (almost lasted a week without using one!) and it wasn't that bad of an experience so hopefully the trains won't be as well.
(posted at 5:45 pm local time)
We arrived in Kumming last night around 6 pm, after taking a 1 hour flight from Guilin. We were going to eat at the airport in Guilin but they only had 4 resturants, all with the same menu, and it was quite expensive so we all picked up snacks to last until we got to Kunming. IN the airports there are hot water dispensors so you can buy instant noodles at the airport and make your own meal there. The noodles even come with a spoon.
Upon arriving in Kunming we were greated with some fresh, cool air which is much nicer than the warm humid weather we've had in the rest of China. Our hotel definitely looked more than a 3 star, which is what we get on this trip, and a couple of us managed to get upgraded to suites. We originally had a room with two singles beds but when we arrived in our room, we discovered that someone was already using it. THe staff upgraded us to a suite on the 15th floor which had two bathrooms, a huge bedroom and a living room. Too bad were only got to stay there for one night. (Even though this is the best hotel we've had so far, it had the hardest bed in the world and the worst breakfast ever. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too - or would that be "your noodles", in China?)
After checking in we all went out for supper across the road from the hotel. Alex was originally going to take us to a different resturant but apparently some one on the last tour got sick after eating there and they were cooking the veggetarian dishes in the same oil as the meat so the tour decided not to use that resturant again. Apparently Imaginative Traveller also checks their hotels every 6 months and if the standards are slipping, they stop using them. We didn't have anything too exotic for supper - fried goat cheese with ham, spicy chicken with peanuts, a beef and veggie dish and something else which I can't remember. We usually order a few dishes and then share with Liz and Gareth, the couple from England who are our age and have travelled quite a bit.
I had hoped to see the Stone Forest while in Kunming but it was two hours out of town and getting there and back would have taken the whole day so we opted not to do that. Instead we spent the day with Gareth and Liz and went to the Bamboo Temple, a older Budhist temple, a strange vegetarian resturant and also the bird and pet market. Kunming is quite a big city and very spread out so we took a taxi everywhere. They are metered taxis here so that definitely makes it easier for paying at the end of your trip. We found both the temples quite interesting and ornate and since it is Saturday there were quite a number of people at both temples touring around and offering insense to all the different statues. (I'm not a big insense fan - the place smelled like a giant mosquito coil!) One of the temples had a number of ponds with fish and at least 100 turles all swimming around. Some of the turles has painted shells on them.
After lunch we wandered through the bird and pet markets which sold everything from squirlls and chipmonks to scorpians and mice. We also passed through a clothing market and a flower market which were quite busy but interesting to look at.
Tonight we catch a 10 pm train to take to Dali where we'll be for at least one night. The overnight train is 9 hours and I must say that I am not looking forward to the trip. I did have to use my first squat toilet today (almost lasted a week without using one!) and it wasn't that bad of an experience so hopefully the trains won't be as well.
(posted at 5:45 pm local time)
posted by The Patterson Pair at 5:26 AM
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